Burnt to death in electric car

“Anja was always an incredibly nice girl”

Candles at the scene of the accident commemorate the tragedy.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Matthias Lauber/laumat.at)

The terrible accidental death of two young people on Sunday night in Buchkirchen (Upper Austria) is shocking. The two teenagers - who were only 17 and 18 years old - burned to death in an electric car. The grief for the "incredibly nice girl" is huge in her home community and beyond.

"I'm shocked, I don't even know what to say yet," says Mario Zottele, chairman of the Huskies Wels football club, deeply shocked by the tragic accidental death of 17-year-old Anja.

The young girl from Krenglbach was riding along with an 18-year-old from Perchtoldsdorf (Lower Austria) on Uttenthaler Straße in Buchkirchen on Sunday night. For reasons still unknown, the young driver crashed his car - according to "Krone" information, it was a fully electric Volvo - head-on into a fruit tree.

Firefighters extinguished the burning electric car and only then made the terrible discovery. The two young people had no chance of surviving.

(Bild: Lauber/laumat.at Matthias)

Bodies only discovered after extinguishing
The car was thrown into an adjacent cornfield and immediately caught fire. The two occupants were unable to save themselves and burned to death in the wreckage. The bodies were only discovered by firefighters after the fire had been extinguished. The grief for the two young people is enormous in their home communities. In addition to the football club mentioned above, Anja has always been involved in the local children's club.

It is very likely that this accident would have had a similar tragic outcome with an internal combustion engine.

Peter Simader, Betriebsleiter beim ARBÖ Oberösterreich

Wanted to become a football coach
"She was an active member, played quarterback for our club in her youth. Now that she was about to turn 18, she was no longer allowed to play at youth level. We only talked about what she could do next on Wednesday. She wanted to train as a coach and pass on her experience to the youngsters," explains Zottele. But the tragic accident put a spanner in the works for the 17-year-old.

Last week, she said goodbye to her teammates after the last game. They now bid a touching farewell to their friend on social media. "She was always fully involved, very committed, always motivated everyone else. She was just an incredibly nice girl," Zotelle remembers Anja.